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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
 Posted - 02/06/2006 : 04:56:02 AM
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Somewhere along the line, maybe when Roger Moore took over the James Bond series, somebody in Hollywood thought it would be a really good idea that at least once a movie hero should make a wisecrack (or worse a pun) while dispatching the film's villain.
Some of these "killer" lines have been clever, most haven't. The idea for this topic crossed my mind while watching X-Men tonight. Halle Berry's send-off line to Ray Park ("You know what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else.") has to be the worst, laziest, the most "huh?" inducing piece of Hollywood crap dialogue I've heard. |
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Culfy
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
United Kingdom
113 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2006 : 08:39:41 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
Somewhere along the line, maybe when Roger Moore took over the James Bond series, somebody in Hollywood thought it would be a really good idea that at least once a movie hero should make a wisecrack (or worse a pun) while dispatching the film's villain.
Some of these "killer" lines have been clever, most haven't. The idea for this topic crossed my mind while watching X-Men tonight. Halle Berry's send-off line to Ray Park ("You know what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else.") has to be the worst, laziest, the most "huh?" inducing piece of Hollywood crap dialogue I've heard.
In Dark Angel with Dolph Lundgren; when Dolph is about to dispatch the killer alien
Killer Alien: I come in peace!
Dolph: And you leave in pieces
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Notes from a small cavy
www.culfy.blogspot.com |
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Max Torque
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
61 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 11:21:32 AM
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| Word on the street is, Halle Berry's at fault for the line from X-Men. The line was supposed to be delivered in an offhand manner, which would have been acceptable; instead, she delivered it with such ....gravity.... that it was just dumb. |
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cschack
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Norway
124 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 5:06:24 PM
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From Commando: The scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger pumps David Patrick Kelly for info by holding him over a gorge by his ankle, then drops him. He returns to the van and this exchange takes place:
Rae Dawn Chong: Where is he?
The Governator: I let him go. |
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Nicolletta
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
85 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 5:23:41 PM
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From Cobra, when Stallone goes after the nutball in the grocery store:
Nutball: "I'm gonna blow this place up!"
Stallone: "Go ahead. I don't shop here."
Being real is good. Being interesting is better. |
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Ubiq
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
347 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 6:03:46 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Max Torque
Word on the street is, Halle Berry's at fault for the line from X-Men. The line was supposed to be delivered in an offhand manner, which would have been acceptable; instead, she delivered it with such ....gravity.... that it was just dumb.
Delivery is irrelevant where such a line is concerned though as it's idiotic regardless of who delivers it and the fashion they deliver it in. Yeah, attempting to impart a sense of gravitas to the phrase makes it seem worse, but it's a bad line no matter how you approach it.
That's probably my pick by the way. In a bad film, it would just be chalked up to the overall quality of the film; in a good film like X-Men, it's actually jarring.
BM: I should have mentioned this at the beginning. I solve my problems with violence. |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 6:27:45 PM
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| Cobra has got to be near the bottom here. It has at least two bad killer lines -- both from Sly: "You're a disease. And I'm the cure." and "This is where the law stops and I start." |
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MikeC
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
749 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 07:19:07 AM
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In sort of the same vein:
I remember watching part of Woody Allen's
SHADOWS & FOG, where people were questioning
Woody's character about his complicity in a
murder.
Though the cadence and delivery were classic
Woody Allen circa WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT or ANNIE
HALL, everythng he was saying was aggressively
not funny, though I caught the strong implication
that it was intended to be funny mostly because
Woody was saying it in his trademark New York
stacatto style.
MikeC |
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AnnGora
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
252 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 08:51:20 AM
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Chief Brody to Shark:
Smile, you sonuvabitch!
She was bred in old Kentucky, but she's just a crumb up here. |
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Max Torque
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
61 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 11:20:21 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Ubiq
Delivery is irrelevant where such a line is concerned though as it's idiotic regardless of who delivers it and the fashion they deliver it in. Yeah, attempting to impart a sense of gravitas to the phrase makes it seem worse, but it's a bad line no matter how you approach it.
I hear ya, but I maintain that it could have been done a whole lot better than it was done. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_film"]The Wikipedia entry on X-Men[/url] says that that line was one of two Joss Whedon contributions to remain in the film and that he was disappointed with her delivery. Imagine the same line delivered by, say, Mal from Firefly, and it actually works. |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 1:38:56 PM
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| If you need a great delivery to salvage a line of dialogue, then it's not a great line of dialogue. Period. |
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twitterpate
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Canada
1026 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 2:15:59 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by AnnGora
Chief Brody to Shark:
Smile, you sonuvabitch!
Actually, I think the correct quote is:
Smile, you sonuva (BOOM!) |
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AnnGora
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
252 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 3:33:27 PM
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Twitterpate-
You're right. The ...bitchis more or less implied.
She was bred in old Kentucky, but she's just a crumb up here. |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 8:11:49 PM
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Actually, I think you can hear the last part of Brody's killer dialogue. It's hard to hear over the gunshot, but it's there, at least in the original sound mix.
By the way, that ain't a bad killer line, it's a damned GOOD one, no? |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2006 : 03:15:35 AM
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I agree. In fact, most of the "worst" lines people have posted here I always thought were among the best.
Rather than Arnold's "I let him go," which I thought was hilarious, I would substitute his groaners from Eraser: "You're luggage" and "He caught a train" weren't nearly as fresh or funny. It didn't help matters that audiences were wearying of Arnold's incessant puns by this time.
BTW, I'm surprised nobody's brought up McBain from The Simpsons, which parodies this stuff on almost a monthly basis. |
Edited by - zombiewhacker on 02/09/2006 03:17:57 AM |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2006 : 06:44:27 AM
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| Here's one I groaned at. At the end of Speed, on top of the subway car, when Dennis Hopper does a little monologuing about how he is smarter than Keanu Reeves, then Reeves kicks him back and Hopper is beheaded by a passing light. And Reeves says, "But I'm taller." Lord, HELP ME!! |
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